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Pond Conservation

I've eulogized Pond Conservation and its director Jeremy Biggs before. They're a tiny but good charity, punching above their weight and communicating sometimes unpalatable messages based on good science. In the freshwater line of things we already give money to the excellent Amphibian and Reptile Groups' 100% fund, so we've just signed up as a Pond Conservation corporate associate too. Charities explicitly working for habitats rather than animals are to be applauded It's a difficult ask, as the now sadly defunct Grassland Trust found out; it's much easier to appeal to people to preserve something loveable and fluffy. The fauna associated with ponds aren't popular either, which makes pond and amphibian and reptile charities the Cinderellas of the conservation world. People love mammals and birds, and iconic species like bees and butterflies. They don't like snakes and toads, and newts start them sniggering. This would be ok if all was well in the world of herpetofauna*, but it isn't. Perhaps surprisingly, given the good news stories about rivers we often seem to hear, such ponds as do still exist after all the drainage schemes of recent history have such poor water quality they're pretty hopeless, ecologically speaking. Their high nutrient levels also support invasive plants, which hardly help. Pond Conservation hope their million pond project might help. The other reason we're supporting Pond Conservation is that I really, really just like ponds and their associated flora and fauna. We've put in several ponds for our courses and a lovely one at our previous house, and the landscaping project at our new house will include a lot of water (somewhat ironic, given the Somme-like state of the building site currently!). To my mind it's the first step in creating any garden ecosystem; our ponds won't just bring the obvious animals in, but also birds and bats. Not only that but, full of native aquatic plants, they will look stunning. *amphibians and reptiles Ed.: Pond Conservation are now the Freshwater Habitats Trust.